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<\/p>\nCLEVELAND \u2014 Last week, catcher Austin Hedges noted that the Guardians will enter the 2026 season with one of the league\u2019s youngest rosters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always do,\u201d Hedges added.<\/p>\n
The organization wears that as a badge of honor, even if it\u2019s self-designed. Eight Cleveland players debuted last season: C.J. Kayfus, George Valera, Will Wilson, Petey Halpin, Parker Messick, Nic Enright, Zak Kent and Doug Nikhazy. Injuries prevented a handful of others from a promotion, so there could be a steady stream of calls to the majors in 2026. There are usually a few debuts that surprise us. This year, there are some we\u2019ve waited on for years.<\/p>\n
First, some names to remember \u2026<\/p>\n
Every team needs pitching depth: Will Dion, Ryan Webb, Trenton Denholm<\/p>\n
There\u2019s always that moment in the season when one pitcher has food poisoning, another pitcher\u2019s UCL is fraying and the guy they really want to promote pitched a day earlier. Denholm has been workshopping a knuckleball, which could be fun. Similarly, some relievers who could make the jump later in the year if the team gets desperate: Jake Miller, Alaska Abney and Steven P\u00e9rez.<\/p>\n
The hot-shot hitting prospect: Ralphy Velazquez<\/p>\n
Odds are, he won\u2019t debut in 2026 because he\u2019s primarily a first baseman and he\u2019s blocked by Kayfus and Kyle Manzardo. He\u2019s 20 and only spent 28 games at Double-A Akron, so he has some rungs left to climb on the organizational ladder. But that bat. What a bat. Once he arrived in Akron, he logged a .330\/.405\/.589 slash line. He crushed lefties. He clobbered righties. There\u2019s real home run power. There\u2019s a lot of contact. At minimum, there\u2019s reason to check his line in the box score each night.<\/p>\n
Now, for the top 10ish prospects who could debut in 2026 \u2026<\/p>\n
10 (tie). Yorman G\u00f3mez\/Khal Stephen, SP<\/p>\n
Cleveland used 10 starters last season and 12 in 2024. (Remember Spencer Howard?) The Guardians will need more than the six who ended last season in the big-league rotation. G\u00f3mez and Stephen could emerge as options this summer, and both offer intrigue. The Guardians acquired Stephen for Shane Bieber in July, and evaluators both inside and outside of the organization have noted how he fits the Guardians\u2019 command-first mold (and might even be reminiscent of the guy he was traded for). The club added G\u00f3mez to the 40-man roster in November after he held opponents to a .207\/.286\/.302 slash line.<\/p>\n
9. Cooper Ingle, C<\/p>\n
Last year, Bo Naylor and Hedges handled all but two games, which Dom Nu\u00f1ez started. In 2024, the three-headed monster of Naylor, Hedges and David Fry accounted for every start behind the plate. That\u2019s the formula the club intends to follow in 2026. But what happens if it goes awry? Cleveland used 15 catchers from 2021-23, many of whom you have likely blocked from memory.<\/p>\n
2023: Naylor, Cam Gallagher, Mike Zunino, Fry, Eric Haase, Zack Collins
2022: Hedges, Luke Maile, Sandy Le\u00f3n, Bryan Lavastida
2021: Hedges, Roberto P\u00e9rez, Ren\u00e9 Rivera, Wilson Ramos, Ryan Lavarnway<\/p>\n
If they need an extra backstop, the Guardians again have Nu\u00f1ez in camp on a minor-league deal. They could turn to Kody Huff for a short spell. Or, they could welcome Ingle, one of their top prospects, a bat-first catcher who could benefit from a spring spent around experts in Naylor, Hedges, Fry, Stephen Vogt, Sandy Alomar Jr. and Tony Arnerich.<\/p>\n
8. Kahlil Watson, OF<\/p>\n
What if I told you Cleveland employed an outfield prospect who was a first-round pick and consensus top-60 prospect and who posted an .834 OPS at Triple A in 2025? Those are Watson\u2019s credentials, and while it\u2019s been a winding road to get to this point, he could soon enter the fray in an outfield with zero certainty outside of Steven Kwan (and Kwan\u2019s future in Cleveland is anything but certain). Watson whiffs a bunch and hits lefty just like every other Guardians batter since the Mesozoic Era, but there\u2019s an intriguing profile teeming with speed and hard contact.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n First-round pick Kahlil Watson\u2019s impressive credentials and intriguing profile could land him in the outfield in 2026. (Samantha Madar \/ Columbus Dispatch \/ USA Today Network via Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
7. Austin Peterson, SP<\/p>\n
Hey, look, another Guardians starting pitching prospect with good command, a low-90s fastball and secondary stuff that, if executed, can create a bunch of chase and whiffs. Peterson is 26, was added to the 40-man roster in November and spent the back half of last season at Triple A. He should be in line for some spot starts before long.<\/p>\n
6. Franco Aleman, RP<\/p>\n
OK, let\u2019s try this again. He ranked No. 5 on this list a year ago, when we dubbed him \u201cperhaps the organization\u2019s most effective reliever\u201d over the previous year and a half. And then \u2026 yikes. You never want to read too much into a minor-league stat line, especially for a reliever in a relatively small sample size, but it\u2019s hard to ignore a 7.85 ERA. His hit rate ballooned. His walk rate increased from uncomfortably high to self-destructively so. There\u2019s flashy stuff and a dazzling strikeout rate, but if he\u2019s going to continue to occupy a 40-man spot and ultimately break into the big-league pen, he\u2019ll need immediate results.<\/p>\n
5. Peyton Pallette, RP<\/p>\n
This one\u2019s simple: If Pallette, a Rule 5 pick from the Chicago White Sox, has a solid spring, he\u2019ll make the Opening Day roster. If not, the Guardians will offer him back to the White Sox. It\u2019s easier to squeeze an extra reliever in this situation onto the roster than it is a position player, and if Cleveland\u2019s pitching wizards spotted something they liked when scouting the Rule 5 draft pool, the odds are probably in his favor.<\/p>\n
4. Daniel Espino, P<\/p>\n
We included Espino in this space two years ago, noting \u201cthe best-case scenario for Espino is probably just a season devoid of any extended absences, his first game action in two years and maybe a late-summer cameo in the bullpen.\u201d How about tacking on two years to that stint on the shelf and re-assessing the best-case scenario? Espino returned to the mound on Sept. 20, his first minor-league outing in 41 months. He made four appearances in the Arizona Fall League. Now, he\u2019s ready for \u2026 well, something. It\u2019s unfair to place any lofty expectations on a guy who essentially missed four years because of multiple shoulder surgeries. But could he ease into the season and wind up in the bullpen late in the year? He still throws hard. He still has fun secondary stuff. He still makes you wonder what\u2019s possible if he can stay healthy.<\/p>\n
3. Juan Brito, IF<\/p>\n
Brito ranked No. 1 on this list a year ago, with the premise being, \u201cThe Guardians want to learn as much as they can about him this year.\u201d Welp. He totaled 24 games at Triple A, his season essentially wiped out by thumb surgery and hamstring surgery. He\u2019s a 24-year-old who makes sound swing decisions, but where he\u2019ll play is a mystery. If not second base, where there could be a crowd, he could bounce to first or right, where his switch-hitting ability could be welcome.<\/p>\n
2. Travis Bazzana, 2B<\/p>\n
The only No. 1 pick in franchise history, Bazzana will start spring training in big-league camp and then play for his native Australia in the World Baseball Classic. He\u2019s likely ticketed for Triple A to begin the year, but the Guardians are keeping second base warm for him. There are questions about his passivity at the plate and his defensive range, but the 23-year-old just needs to play. He missed two months last summer because of a right oblique injury, and then his season ended early because of a left oblique injury.<\/p>\n
1. Chase DeLauter, OF<\/p>\n
Wait, I swear I watched this guy play in the big leagues already. No, you didn\u2019t! Yes, I did. He worked some impressive at-bats. He lost a fly ball in the sun. He had an entire crowd belting out John Denver, even after his walk-up track ended. Nope, never happened. I interviewed him multiple times in a big-league clubhouse. That wasn\u2019t him. He had long, floppy hair and a corner locker near Tanner Bibee. Must have been AI.<\/p>\n
DeLauter officially has zero days of major-league service time, even though he appeared in two of the Guardians\u2019 postseason games. They summoned him to Cleveland to debut in a playoff elimination game even though he hadn\u2019t appeared in a game in nearly three months because of injuries, so as long as he doesn\u2019t pull a hamstring in spring training, there\u2019s not much of an argument against him being big-league-ready.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014 Last week, catcher Austin Hedges noted that the Guardians will enter the 2026 season with one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2380],"tags":[5,135,51,2565,538,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-530951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-guardians","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-guardians","11":"tag-clevelandguardians","12":"tag-guardians","13":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115933549371811211","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}